


After the Storm (The Meaning of Flying)

by CassieWritesDestiel



Series: Storm [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angel Castiel (Supernatural), Angel Wings, Canon Related, Canon Universe, Castiel Loves Dean Winchester, Dean Winchester Has Abandonment Issues, Dean Winchester is Bad at Feelings, Feelings, Fluff, Flying, Home, M/M, actually this is platonic, but definitely leading up to something, can be seen platonic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-11
Updated: 2019-01-11
Packaged: 2019-10-08 06:15:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17381186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CassieWritesDestiel/pseuds/CassieWritesDestiel
Summary: The storm has ended and finally allows Castiel to fly again. The only shadow over his happiness is Dean fearing he might not come back.





	After the Storm (The Meaning of Flying)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SatanSpawnedNougat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SatanSpawnedNougat/gifts).



> You asked me to write a sequel to Storm and I tried my best. Hope you like it :)

It took the angel a few moments to notice the noise that was missing in his celestial ears. The wind that had been knocking against the door with every blow, trying to squeeze into every tear to find a way inside and groaning when it didn’t work, was gone. Not completely though, but it had lost some of its power and had slowed down. As he realized what that meant, he smiled. Castiel stood up and walked to the door, which had now won its most recent battle with nature, and stepped outside. For a moment, he simply breathed his surroundings in and let his eyes wander over the remains of the storm: the broken branches and trash on the ground, the puddles filled with dirty water and the cold air that still smelled of rain. The angel was glad that he hadn’t lost all of his human senses yet even after his wings were healed – he had grown to like them, alongside the often confusing feelings that came with a force like a hurricane. Life was so much more beautiful with them. 

Finally, he directed his eyes towards the sky. The clouds that had been covering the sky in their dark fashion during the last days had cleared up and allowed him to see the blue he didn’t think he’d miss so much. A color that resembled the one of his eyes yet when he looked into the mirror never seemed so marvellous. The sun peeked out behind the remaining greyish mist and bid Cas a warm welcome, inviting him to fly. 

Castiel slowly enrolled his wings, savouring every moment of it, celebrating the very action like a sacred ritual. He wondered about how the soft wind tugged on every single feather like a dog sniffing a new arrival. It tickled and felt funny but at the same time somehow comforting. The almost freezing breeze gently nudging his plumage was like a promise of coming home. 

Dean had followed Cas outside, but for some reason he hadn’t dared to disturb the silence around them, to bother his friend in this special moment, so he just stood there and watched. There was a beauty and holiness in seeing Castiel with his wings out, something he’d never realized about his friend. Maybe the universe was laughing about this cruel joke, that Dean never understood the true extent of Cas’s being until now that he was about to leave. Dean felt almost unworthy to observe, as if it was a forbidden thing to do, but he couldn’t tear his gaze away. 

There were blue particles swirling around the midnight feathers, like little fireflies adding to the magic. It sent Dean back some nights ago, to waking up in a sea of dark warmth and little comforting lights, in a strange place that scared him but then Cas had been there like he always was. The angel seemed to notice something but then jumped and flapped his wings in one brief motion, ascending into the sky where he belonged. 

“No,” Dean whispered out, maybe louder than he meant to. He really wanted to be happy for Cas, join in on his glee about getting back something he’s lost and mourned for, but the guilt was weighing him down. Guilt that it was his fault Cas’s wings had been broken in the first place. Guilt that he couldn’t be happy for him now. And fear that he would leave and abandon him now that he wasn’t bond to the ground anymore, now that he had the one thing back that linked him to heaven. 

A faint sound let Castiel look back as he leaped into the air, and he found the answer to the lights around him, those traitorous little particles that shone brighter when he was around someone he loved. He saw Dean there with fear in his eyes, a momentary stone in his gut, but then the wind took him in like a child, carrying him towards the sun. Flying was like a memory long lost, nostalgic and gentle as his wings parted the sky, fierce and lovable as the breezes played with his plums. He’d forgotten how majestic it felt, but there was also something new, something he’s only learned with the Winchesters: freedom. The sky was the road to anywhere and he was free to travel it – the sun and stars leading him as road signs, and the cloud like the grass and bushes at the side of the street. For some time he breathed it in and roamed the sky, greeting the birds as he passed them and getting drunk on the flashes of ground, his former prison cell only a blurry image now as long as he moved forward. Then, he found his destination. 

Castiel turned around, coming back from his dream as he saw the hunter awaiting his return with hope fading in his eyes. The angel landed in front of Dean, the hurt in the hunter’s eyes a tremor in his heart. 

“You didn’t leave,” Dean stated, a little surprise in his heavy voice. 

“Why would I?” The angel asked, tilting his head the way he always did and it almost made Dean laugh out loud. 

“You’ve got your wings back. You could go anywhere. Why stay?” 

“Here’s my home,” Cas said, making Dean’s lips turn up in a smile. 

“But heaven…,” he contradicted, knowing how much the angel sometimes missed his old home and the bond with his brothers and sisters. 

Castiel opened his wings again, showing them to the hunter in front of him, the fireflies more vivid than ever. “These,” he pointed at his plumage, healthy and full, “are a promise of a home that never was,” he explained, referring to heaven. “A home that never was like I dream it would be and it never will. But here, right in front of me, is a home that’s very real. It’s not perfect and sometimes it’s broken but it’s here. So, why would I leave?” 

Hesitantly, and then all at once, Dean lunged forward and embraced Castiel in a hug, holding him there and making himself believe that he would stay. The angel responded the hug first with his arms, then with his wings, enwrapping them in a soft embrace. 

A few moments passed until Dean loosened his grip, moving his head up until his eyes found Cas’s. The wings stayed entwined behind Dean’s back, holding the hug alive. “I won’t leave,” Castiel assured him again, reading the emotion his face held right, and Dean chuckled over his own stupidity. Their foreheads met and they remained in this position, breathing each other’s air within an embrace that shielded off the cold. It almost looked like they were two lovers after a kiss that never happened. 

  
  



End file.
